Statutes Enforced or Administered by the Commission

The Commission has enforcement or administrative responsibilities under more than 70 laws. They are grouped here in three categories: (a) Statutes relating to both the competition and consumer protection missions; (b) statutes relating principally to the competition mission; and (c) statutes relating principally to the consumer protection mission.

The Federal Trade Commission Act is the primary statute of the Commission. Under this Act, the Commission is empowered, among other things, to (a) prevent unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce; (b) seek monetary redress and other relief for conduct injurious to consumers; (c) prescribe trade regulation rules defining with specificity acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive, and establishing requirements designed to prevent such acts or practices; (d) conduct investigations relating to the organization, business, practices, and management of entities engaged in commerce; and (e) make reports and legislative recommendations to Congress.

Under this Act, the Commission is empowered, among other things, to (a) prevent unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce; (b) seek monetary redress and other relief for conduct injurious to consumers; (c) prescribe trade regulation rules defining with specificity acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive, and establishing requirements designed to prevent such acts or practices; (d) conduct investigations relating to the organization, business, practices, and management of entities engaged in commerce; and (e) make reports and le

This Act amends the Truth in Lending Act in various respects, including requiring certain creditors to disclose on the front of billing statements a minimum monthly payment warning for consumers and a toll-free telephone number, established and maintained by the Commission, for consumers seeking information on the time required to repay specific credit balances.

The Commission is charged under Sections 3, 7 and 8 of this Act with preventing and eliminating unlawful tying contracts, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and interlocking directorates. The statute was amended by the Robinson-Patman Act, 49 Stat. 1528, 15 U.S.C. §§ 13, 13b, and 21a, under which the Commission is authorized to prevent certain specified practices involving discriminatory pricing and product promotion

This Act requires the FTC, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education to jointly submit a report to Congress each year on fraud in the offering of college education financial assistance services. Each report must contain an assessment of the nature and quantity of incidents of such fraud during the previous year. The FTC is also directed to work with the Secretary of Education in maintaining a scholarship fraud awareness site on the Department of Education's website.

This Act, as amended by the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (see below), requires manufacturers, packagers, and importers of smokeless tobacco products to place one of four statutorily-prescribed health-related warning labels on product packages and in advertisements, on a rotational basis, as approved by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. However, the Act prohibits any advertising of smokeless tobacco products on radio and television. The Commission is authorized to enforce against violations of the Act.

Section 801 of this Act instructs the Secretary of Commerce to implement a cooperative program for crab fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, in which individuals receive processing quotas. The Act further specifies that it does not constitute a waiver of antitrust laws and instructs the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the DOJ and the FTC, to implement a mandatory information collection and review process to enable the DOJ and the FTC to determine if anyone receiving a quota under the program has committed any acts that violate any of the antitrust laws.

This Act, amending the Truth in Lending Act, regulates personal property leases that exceed 4 months in duration and that are made to consumers for personal, family, or household purposes. The statute requires that certain lease costs and terms be disclosed, imposes limitations on the size of penalties for delinquency or default and on the size of residual liabilities, and requires certain disclosures in lease advertising.

This Act establishes requirements for those who send unsolicited commercial email. The Act bans false or misleading header information and prohibits deceptive subject lines. It also requires that unsolicited commercial email provide recipients with a method for opting out of receiving such email and must be identified as an advertisement. In addition to enforcing the statute, the FTC must issue rules involving the required labeling of sexually explicit commercial email and the criteria for determining the primary purpose of a commercial email.

This Act amends the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 6101-6108, to require the FTC to have in its telemarketing rules a definition of deceptive telemarketing practices that includes fraudulent charitable solicitations. The Act further specifies that the FTC's telemarketing rules must include a requirement that anyone engaged in telemarketing for the solicitation of charitable contributions must clearly disclose that as the purpose of the call and authorizes the FTC to prescribe other disclosures it considers appropriate.

Under Section 103(d) of this Act (30 U.S.C. § 1413(d)), the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce must provide the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission with an opportunity to review and make recommendations concerning the antitrust implications of proposed licenses for the extraction of minerals from deep seabed sites.

Under Section 7 of this Act (33 U.S.C. § 1506), the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission provide reports to Secretary of Transportation assessing the expected competitive effects of proposed licenses for deepwater ports.

Section 708 of this Act (50 U.S.C. App. §§ 2158, 2158a) requires the Commission and the Department of Justice to participate in developing, implementing, and monitoring voluntary agreements established by oil companies to deal with emergency domestic oil shortages.

Title X of this Act creates a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection within the Federal Reserve Board as a new supervisor for certain financial firms and as a rulemaker and enforcer against unfair, deceptive, abusive, or otherwise prohibited practices relating to most consumer financial products or services.

The Act makes it unlawful under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act for any producer, importer, exporter, distributor, or seller of any tuna product that is exported from or offered for sale in the United States to deceptively claim that its tuna is "dolphin safe." The standard for labeling tuna as "dolphin safe" has been loosened by Section 5 of the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act (Pub. L. No. 105-42, 111 Stat. 1122).

Section 811 of this Act prohibits any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance in connection with the wholesale purchase or sale of crude oil, gasoline, or other petroleum distillate in contravention of rules or regulations the Commission may prescribe. Section 205 of the Act requires the Commission to issue rules for the labeling of biodiesel or biodiesel blend fuel sold at retail.